Nearly two years after Alberta RCMP seized weapons at a Parkland County acreage in connection with an investigation looking into threats allegedly being made towards power-generating stations, the man arrested in the case has pleaded guilty to committing several firearms and explosives offences.
In an Edmonton courtroom Tuesday morning, Kelvin Maure, 27, admitted to carrying multiple illegal firearms, including two loaded assault rifles and overcapacity magazines.
He was also in possession of chemicals and fuses capable of detonating an explosion.
After Maure pleaded guilty Tuesday, an Edmonton judge accepted the joint sentencing submission submitted by lawyers at the trial, sentencing the man to six years in prison, less about a year credit for time already served in custody.
Court heard that the RCMP had found Maure posting online in an anonymous chat group about threatening police, power-generating stations and other critical infrastructure.
He went so far as to go to the TransAlta Keephills Generating Station in Parkland County in a hard hat and vest, pretending to work there.
While there, court heard he posted photos of his assault rifle being pointed at the station and transformers.
Maure was arrested by police in February 2021, when a large group of police officers descended upon a property west of Edmonton, searching the acreage in the Heatherlea Estates subdivision west of Stony Plain.
RCMP said it executed search warrants on several properties at that time, resulting in the seizure of numerous firearms and other paraphernalia, including a beige sweater with several RCMP patches sewn on, and a military-style vest.
The cache of guns included an AK-47, AK-74, rifles and a semi-automatic Viking 22 handgun, and several rounds of ammunition.